# 023
A secure onsite depository fitted with steel walls and
numbered lockers. This fortified strongroom holds a
good portion of the Sinclair fortune despite the fact
that several inventories have led accountants to
assume the true legacy is hidden elsewhere.
@Cost3
Type: @Blueprint , @DeadEnd
+40 gold
Items
seen Coupon Book, Magnifying Glass
Special Features
Current date is displayed on the desk
Chess piece: white @Rook
Lockboxes
opened by their respective vault keys
Clues
Contents of Lockbox 149
Passport: Samantha Hayes
Top part has a code fragment
i
D
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Contents of Lockbox 233
Passport: Grey Daniels
Contents of Lockbox 304
Passport: Jean Ribbon
Contents of Lockbox 370
see Mary's Letters
Contents of Lockbox 53
opened by Key 8
Letter from Herbert and a puzzle from Baroness Auravei
My obsession with ciphers was renewed
after my brother died, for among his
journals, I found a curious square: a
grid of words, written in a hand I
immediately recognized - my mother's.
Accompanying this discovery were
numerous pages containing traces of my
brother's fruitless attempts over the
years to decipher this grid.
It was a bittersweet find. The
excitement I felt was tempered by
memories of the unique bond my mother
and brother had always shared. I was
the child with an interest in puzzles
and wordplay, yet it was Simon to whom
she bequeathed this cryptic gift.
With all respect to my late brother, it
became clear after spending time poring
over his notes that he was not very
suited to this challenge. Occasionally,
he stumbled upon some promising ideas,
but none of them were thoroughly pursued.
Where I will give him credit, however, is
in the extensive research he conducted,
combing through a career's worth of our
mother's notes and correspondence. This
search culminated in the discovery of a
letter my mother had written a local
professor, requesting “additional
material for use in the creation of a
cryptograph.” This meager clue was,
according to his survey, the only shred
of evidence in her belongings that
mentioned this project.
As for me, I am ashamed to admit that
despite all my boasting, I have
nothing to show for nearly three
decades of effort. I am no closer to
solving this than I was in those early
months of daily obsession. And with
each passing year, I fear my chances
of reaching a satisfying conclusion to
this adventure grow ever slimmer.
Some might say this outcome is quite
fitting - poetic justice for
tormenting my readers for so many
years with seemingly impossible
bafflers. While I can certainly relate
to their frustrations, I wonder if we
really need to obtain answers to all
of life's questions. Must we always
quench our thirst for knowledge?
At my age, I often find myself looking
back at the long path behind me, and I
think I am content to leave a few
stones unturned. A life without some
mystery is a life without imagination.
So, I will lay down this burden and
leave this stone, and the winding path
of intrigue it precedes, for future
generations to explore.
